movies

The Mole People

So it starts out with an archaeological team in the 50's that stumbles upon this underground civilization of a lost dynasty of sumerians, who have apparently failed to evolve over the past 5,000 years. The plot becomes a but fuzzy here, but pretty much only three people survive.

The albinos decide to sacrifice these three survivors, but they escape. One of them dies, but the other two (Dr. Bentley and Dr. Belamin) escape by shining a flash light in the albinos and mole people's faces. Wait- who are these mole people? They are mutant humanoid mole-type creatures that are the mistreated slaves of the albinos and resemble the sand people from Star Wars.

Just like the albinos, living underground has made them highly sensitive to light. Anyways, the sumerian priest believes that the flashlight is the sacred fire of their goddess, Ishtar. They come to believe that Bentley and Belamin are messengers of Ishtar. They give Bentley a slave, a beautiful woman named Adad who is shunned by the albinos because of her tan skin. Of course, she and Bentley fall in love and he says she can come with him if they ever get out.

I can't help feeling that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon saying this is the worst film ever made etc.

I viewed this film for the first time on laserdisc on a video projector in a darkened room with some mates and we found it to be entertaining different atmospheric in parts. John Agar for once has some good lines and does well. The script is a fairly complex one far more than other film of its vintage and budget. We thought the writers should be commended for using such plot devices as intolerance to light and the sub-culture within a sub-culture. Even the ending is unexpected and different. It even has an opening prologue which is a lot of fun. While this film does not hit its target on everything it tries to do, we thought the creators had a pretty good go at it.

I do not honestly understand why so many people think this film is so bad. Maybe seeing it projected on a big screen in a darkened room made a difference, I don't know, but if you have never seen the film before try it with an open mind you may well enjoy it as much as we did.

I've seen this movie several times over the years. It's a real semi classic, great example of 50s sci-fi monster movies. You do get a good look at the actual mole monsters and see quite a bit of them. As good as the mole monsters are, they are only a small part of this film. It's also an adventure movie about exploring for a lost civilization. Most of the plot involves this civilization which also happens to include the Mole People. This is good stuff. The stuff that used to scare and entertain in the 50s. The thing is, if you've seen a decent amount of horror/sci-fi films from the 50s and early 60s and haven't found much that you liked, "The Mole People" is not for you. If you're a fan of 50s B movies, you'll love this one. It's a real must see.

Although The Mole People isn't the best of Universal's 50's sci fi movies, I rather like it.

A group of Archaeologists discover a strange world while exploring in a part of India. They discover a race of albinos living here and they use a strange life form as slaves, mole men. They are afraid of light and a torch is used as a weapon to scare them away. As the movie progresses, most of the team gets killed and one of the survivors falls in love with a woman who happens to be down there as well, but this proves short lived as she is killed in the earthquake at the end in which the world is destroyed.

* Factual errors: Lafarge says "Dr. Bentley, do you remember the Gilgamesh tablets that George Smith found?" George Smith did not find the Gilgamesh tablets, he was the British Museum assistant that first translated the tablets in 1872. The tablets were discovered in 1839 by A.H. Layard. Later, Dr. Stuart questions the existence of a "Sumerian version of Noah's Ark?". Dr.Bentley responds "Exactly. The flood has been proven to be a historical fact, why not a Sumerian version?". The Sumerian version (the story of Utnapishtim and the flood) is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh which they spoke of earlier. Therefore, it should be no surprise to Dr.Stuart. These do not appear to be very learned archaeologists.

* Continuity: Cynthia Patrick's character is called Adel, but named Adad in the end credits.

* Continuity: The positions of Dr. Bellamin's arms change when they are looking at the map.

* Revealing mistakes: The civilization discovered by the archaeologists is supposed to be Sumerian, yet the writing on the walls of the king's and high priest's chambers are in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

* Revealing mistakes: About 20 minutes into the film, the party of archaeologists finds a severed arm in the snow, a black wire is clearly visible moving the arm back and forth.

* Continuity: All the Sumerian people are super-sensitive to light except the three women chosen for the sacrifice. They walk into the room of the Fire of Ishtar with their eyes wide open while the rest of the population have to shield their eyes from the light when the door is opened.